INDIANAPOLIS — The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Indiana is investing up to $1.25 million in a Wetland Reserve Enhancement Partnership (WREP) project to bring together partners and landowners to voluntarily return critical wetland functions to agricultural landscapes. This project provides assistance to all eligible landowners in Indiana and Illinois, with an emphasis on historically underserved farmers.
This partnership is part of USDA’s broader efforts to mitigate climate change by restoring wetlands while also prioritizing assistance to underserved communities. Applications are taken on a continuous basis, but they must be received on or before Nov. 17 for the current funding period.
Restoring wetland ecosystems helps filter sediments and chemicals to improve water quality downstream, enhances wildlife and aquatic habitat, reduces impacts from flooding, recharges groundwater and offers recreational benefits. Wetlands may also serve as carbon sinks by sequestering and storing carbon from the atmosphere, an ecosystem function that supports climate change mitigation across private lands.
“Wetland protection and restoration is a key component of our strategy to address climate change, and partnerships are essential to this work,” Indiana NRCS Acting State Conservationist Curtius Knueven said.
“The voluntary nature of NRCS easement programs enables effective integration of wetland restoration on working landscapes, providing benefits to farmers who enroll in the program, as well as benefits to the communities where the wetlands exist.”
The Lower Wabash River and White River Oxbow project, led by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), seeks to enroll 1,000 acres into wetland easements in parts of Knox, Gibson and Posey counties in Indiana and Gallatin, White, Edwards and Wabash counties in Illinois. This project aims to build on existing efforts of local partnerships between NRCS, TNC and the Conservation Law Center to enroll historically underserved landowners in areas like Lyle’s Station, which was settled in the early 1800’s and is one of the last remaining Black American settlements in the state. The project focus is to reduce nutrient export from the Wabash River and to improve important habitat around priority oxbow lakes for monarch butterflies, migratory birds and large river fish species.
WREP is part of the Wetland Reserve Easement (WRE) component of the Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP). WREP enables local conservation partners to provide leadership and expertise to assist NRCS with acquiring and restoring private wetlands that have been previously altered for agricultural production. WREP easements can be enrolled as 30-year or perpetual, based on the landowners desired management of the offered property. Compensation rates are based on county location.
WREP applications may be submitted at any time to NRCS; however, applications for the current funding round must be submitted on or before the closing date – Nov. 17.
For more information about WREP and other technical and financial assistance available through Indiana NRCS conservation programs, visit https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs-initiatives/acep-agricultural-conservation-easement-program/indiana/ACEPor contact your county’s district conservationist by visiting https://www.farmers.gov/working-with-us/service-center-locator.
— USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
